The Sum of All

Characters belong to J.K. Rowling; this is written for fun and not for money.

Chapter 1

Life is the sum of all your choices.(Albert Camus)

"Really?" Hannah squealed. "He really asked you out?"

Susan Bones nodded happily. "Yes! It's the first Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday and we're going together! I can hardly believe it!"

"I know! It seems like you've been trying for ages to get him to notice you! I thought he never would!"

Susan frowned. Did Hannah have to act so surprised? So what if it had taken Justin until their final year at Hogwarts to notice her? Now he had, and everything was wonderful!

She was more than ever convinced of that as she wandered through Hogsmeade with Justin. Really, he was one of the best-looking boys at school. His family was rich too. Not that Susan cared about that…as the last remaining member of the prestigious Bones family, she had plenty of money in her own right.

Still, it was nice to know that she would never be in want, and neither would her children. Susan blushed at the thought of children with Justin…would they have her own auburn hair, or be dark like him?

She smiled up at him. "Let's visit Honeydukes. I'd like some chocolate frogs."

He returned her smile, but shook his head. "Unless you expect to encounter dementors, you should go easy on the chocolate frogs, Sue! You want to fit into your jeans, don't you?"

Susan flushed. She knew she wasn't the thinnest of girls, but she would never be considered fat! Would she?

Justin wasn't finished. "Look at Daphne Greengrass. Now, that is just hot!"

Susan did look at Daphne, who was blonde, beautiful, and much slimmer than Susan.

Daphne was standing in the next aisle with her younger sister, Astoria. And they were both buying cauldron cakes!

"Well, they can afford to," Justin remarked, when she pointed that out. "Others have to be more restrained."

Susan ended up not buying any chocolate frogs.

"So what was your date like?" Hannah asked expectantly.

"Great," Susan beamed.

"Does he have something special planned for your birthday next week?"

"Nothing yet," Susan admitted. "But it's early days yet. We've only had one date."

"Ohh, I hope it's something good!" Hannah led the way into the Great Hall, then suddenly staggered back as Ginny Weasley rushed by her. "What the…"

"Ginny looked upset." Susan stared after the running Gryffindor. "Wonder what the matter is?"

Hannah was busy looking for Neville Longbottom, and finally spotting him seated among the lions.

"Neville might know," she answered, heading in his direction.

Susan shrugged and turned towards the Hufflepuff table.

Justin was already there, sitting with Ernie Macmillan and Megan Jones. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What? You didn't save me a seat?" she teased.

Justin smirked. "You can always sit on my lap." He winked at Ernie.

"I think Professor Sprout might have something to say about that," she laughed, wedging herself into the narrow space beside Megan.

"Where's Hannah?" Ernie inquired.

"Sitting with Longbottom," Justin drawled. "Now that he's a hero, he gets more female attention."

Susan was surprised. "That isn't true. Hannah has liked Neville since fourth year! She was mad at him for supporting Harry Potter in the tournament instead of Cedric Diggory, but still, she had to admire his loyalty. We both apologized to Harry and I think Neville and Hannah will start dating soon."

"oh, c'mon," Justin grinned. "You think Hannah doesn't realize he's not only a war hero, but the head of an ancient house? And that house is closely aligned with the House of Potter? AND, Harry Potter now heads an even more prestigious house, the Black family? Hannah saw the gold ring, and grabbed it!"

"It wasn't like that at all," Susan protested, then stopped. She could see that, no matter what she said, they wouldn't believe her. With a mental apology to Hannah, she fell silent.

When they left the Hall, Justin immediately steered Susan into the nearest broom closet.

"Justin, what…"

"Shh! Seize the moment, love."

Love? Love! Justin had just told her he loved her, and Susan returned his kisses with abandon.

She barely made it back to the Hufflepuff dorms before curfew.

Hannah was waiting. "I found out what was upsetting Ginny Weasley," she announced. "Harry won't get back together with her."

"Probably found out what she was getting up to with Finnegan last year," Susan shrugged.

Hannah pursed her lips. "Well, maybe, but Neville thinks it's more complicated than that."

Susan wasn't much interested in Ginny's love life, especially since her own had just become so fascinating.

Daphne Greengrass slipped into the seat next to Susan, and the girls exchanged smiles.

"I heard Professor Flitwick will assign our Charms project today," she said in her soft voice. "I was thinking, if you like, we could be partners?"

Susan was delighted. The Slytherin was much better at Charms than she was, and she'd be sure to get a good grade.

Flitwick insisted on pairing up students from different houses; as long as she couldn't work with Justin or Hannah, she'd happily work with Daphne.

Sure enough, Flitwick assigned an end of term project, and the girls agreed to meet in the library that evening to brainstorm ideas.

Susan and Hannah headed out for dinner, and ran right into Harry and Neville.

Somehow they fell into step by twos; Susan tried to think of a topic that would slow them down and give her friend more time with Neville.

Inspiration struck!

"Are you planning to take up your Wizengamot seat at the next session, Harry? Or will you wait until after graduation?"

"No, I think the sooner the better! Neville is going to do the same; we decided if we have to be in politics, might as well make a good job of it."

"I guess I will too. I expect a lot of seats are empty now."

Harry ran a hand through his thick dark hair. "Right, we need to help Kingsley with his plans, and now seems like the best time, with so many of the old pureblood lines ending."

Neville caught this. "You know, we ought to put the word out, and see who else is taking up a seat. We can all go together."

They reached the hall and veered off to their own tables.

She leaned down to kiss Justin, but he pulled back to frown at her.

"What were you talking to Potter about? You looked pretty cozy."

"Oh, that. We were deciding when to take up our Wizengamot seats, that's all." She took his hand, rather pleased at his touch of jealousy, even though it was groundless. Yes, Harry was a celebrity, good-looking and rich. But, he didn't compare to Justin, at least not in her eyes!

She told him that, and watched his smile return.